Peppermint Shrimp

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Hi Everyone! Purchased some peppermint shrimp to rid my tank of aiptasia! For those who have used this method can you give me some insight on how long it took your shrimp to start killing the pests and have you seen the act take place? Johnny:)

[isom]

I've used peppermint shrimp in both of my tanks. They've worked out unbelievably well both times. I've never actually seen them eating an aiptasia, but within two to three days of adding the shrimp I saw a dramatic decrease in the number of the little pests. I've found that they will only eat the smaller aiptasia, any real large ones will have to be removed by hand. How large is the tank, how many shrimp did you add?

[xL4zYx]

I've never seen them actually eat aiptasia, but my friend told me about them. He said he bought two and one started eating on it in a day or so, the other one didn't touch it for almost a week.

HTH

[LOTUS50GOD]

between 1 day and 1 month.

[Aquatic Noggin]

I had dramatic results within a few days. However there was only a handful of Aptasia in my tank.

[freakyreef]

I have seen my egg bearing peppermint on 1 occasion eat them, it was at about 3:00 am. Depending on how many you have and how many tiny ones you have, it may take quite some time before you notice it. I still had to kalk the larger ones in my tank.
After several months I still can find a very few, but they are dissapearing slowly.

[ReefRelated]

Originally posted by isom
I've used peppermint shrimp in both of my tanks. They've worked out unbelievably well both times. I've never actually seen them eating an aiptasia, but within two to three days of adding the shrimp I saw a dramatic decrease in the number of the little pests. I've found that they will only eat the smaller aiptasia, any real large ones will have to be removed by hand. How large is the tank, how many shrimp did you add?

What he said ^^^ 3 of them cleaned my 180g in less than 2 weeks. Worth every penny.

[coralreefengr]

Agreed on all above comments. I had a few small ones and the peppermint devoured them the first night. The big on he didn't touch, but for some reason it detached itself and we just scooped it out. Haven't seen any since.

[Mangas8282]

Has anyone ever had any problems with peppermint shrimp eating other things then aptasia? I have heard that they also munch on polyps and zooanthids. Anyone ever had problems with this?

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Hey tonytooth! I purchased 4 peppermint shrimp for my 80 gallon reef aquarium! We shall see what happens! Johnny:)

[Pod]

Me too but I had 5
Plus they grow fast.

[Mickey]

For what it's worth, the problem I had is my fish (two pajama cardinals) ate the peppermint shrimp within 24 hours. They never had a chance to get rid of my Aiptasia.

Mickey

[ReefRelated]

No offense but I find those pajama cardinals to be the ugliest reef fish. Just wondering why you like them. I have 2 bangais and I like them but the PJ's...Hmm!
Do you feel sorry for them is that why you rescue them? (kind of like the mutt at the pound) J/K! :D

[surt]

Ok, kinda off topic but,
PJ cardinals eating peppermints? My pj hasnt touched the peppermint but ever since I got him(the PJ) I've noticed the bristleworm population in my tank is almost non-existant now. Anyone else have that problem or know if the PJ cardinals eat bristleworms(and yes tonytooth they're butt ugly but I think I like mine because he always looks grumpy about something, kind of amusing :) )

[Mickey]

Believe it or not, tonytooth, I agree with you. I probably wouldn't buy them now.

But, 2.5 years ago when I was new to reefing my LFS said they were reef safe and I desparately wanted to add fish so I bought two. We call them the sentinals as they just hover near the top of the tank, one on one side and one on the other. They never bother anything and we've sort of gotten used to them.

The only interest they ever took in anything was when I added 4 peppermint shrimp. As I said, the shrimp didn't make it 24 hours. I added some skunk cleaner shrimp a few weeks later and they never bothered those.

The Bangai's are nicer looking but it is too late now for me.

Mickey